(1) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a business development process for assessing new business ideas, identifying risk and reward, opportunity analysis, developing proposals, and submitting the new business ideas to either new or existing customers.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The current art for business development, particularly in the Department of the Navy, has been virtually nonexistent with the exception of individualized processes that may have been taking place. Accordingly, a need in the art exists for a sound business development process so that decisions can be more easily made while still pursuing new work. With changing times, funding has become more difficult to obtain and the competition for the funding has increased dramatically. With numerous ideas and limited resources, it was determined that a business development process was necessary to identify which ideas were worth pursuing.
The following patents, for example, disclose methods and systems for evaluating a variety of choices, but do not disclose a business development process for evaluating new business ideas within the context of determining the potential business outcome of those ideas.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,973 to Armstrong et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,305 to Apgar, IV;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,865 to Stratmann;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,060 to Guinta et al.; and        U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,643 to Maxwell.        
Specifically, Armstrong et al. discloses a method and apparatus for evaluating business opportunities for supplying goods and services (such as business forms and services) to potential customers, takes a quantitative approach that allows a user to evaluate a potential customer's needs, and the user's ability to supply those needs, to see what the area of opportunity for the user to supply that need is. Calculations can also be made comparing the user's ability to fulfill the needs to some absolute standard, to also determine an area of emerging technology. A series of questions relating to the customer's level of sophistication for predefined business techniques in a number of different categories are input into a computer, as well as the responses, and weights and values are assigned to the question responses to indicate a level of sophistication for each possible response of each business technique for each separate category. The user's capability of supplying the potential customer's needs are also evaluated and this data is input into a second computer which calculates, taking into account the weights and values, of each separate category, a potential customer's score, the user's score, and the area of opportunity (which is the difference between the customer's score and the user's score). Then, using a computer controlled printer, the calculations are printed out in graphical form on a sheet of paper, along with other human readable indicia, from which an evaluation of the opportunity, as well as a tool to close a business deal, are supplied.
The patent to Apgar, IV provides objective evaluations of a business entity's real estate situation and condition for use by customers including (but not limited to) the business entity. Information is processed to determine indicators of amount, price, area, grade, and risk; and those indicators are combined to provide a total score. The system includes a database for storing a variety of data, such as utilization measures and business information, and data corresponding to businesses that are similar to the business entity. Process actuators process the information to derive the several indicators, the score, and other measures, which is printed or displayed for customers and/or the business entity. Preferably, a report is generated which details information including the score to provide a well-rounded picture of a particular real estate situation.
Stratmann discloses a method for assisting an individual in making a selection amongst a plurality of choice items. The individual selects decision components having a relevance to the selection of a choice item and assigns values to each of the decision components. The user further assigns expected satisfaction scores to each decision component of each choice item indicating the expected satisfaction to be received from the decision components. The reliability of the expected satisfaction scores is indicated by assigned reliability factors. The assigned component values, expected satisfaction values, and reliability factors are then utilized to rank each of the choice items.
Guinta et al. discloses a method and apparatus for computer-aided assessment of an organizational process or system. The method and apparatus are adapted to display computer-displayed questions to an assessor, who then inputs numerical inputs relative to the assessor's perception of the process or system. Filtering techniques inhibit entry of unsupported numerical inputs that may be untrue and/or exaggerated. Sequential questions used in combination provide a more accurate assessment of the system or process, thereby enabling focused audits and/or inspections.
The patent to Maxwell discloses a decision making system whereby a method of performing a detailed level evaluation of one or more products or articles based on a decision maker's response to one or more questions relating to the decision maker's requirements is described. The method includes the decision maker responding to the question relating to the decision maker's functional requirement or requirements taking into account a predefined result type. The response is compared with a product result where the product result reflects a particular functional capability of the article or product in relation to the particular question. This produces an evaluation ratio or series of evaluation ratios that are statistically analyzed to determined how well the product or article meets the decision maker's requirements. The method is particularly suitable for analysis of software packages such as accounting packages and the like and provides a way by which a user may determine, at a highly detailed level, the suitability of various packages to the user's requirements.
It should be understood that the present invention would in fact enhance the functionality of the above patents by providing a business development process that allows innovators to pursue ideas and determine whether the opportunities for any particular idea are real and worth an investment of time and money to those responsible for development. The process allows for a better commitment of resources and effort. This leads to a much better return on investment due to efficient resource allocation and invites more effective strategic planning, commitment of resources and overall planning.